


For Want of Silence

by Mandersmc



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: F/F, I'm Sorry, Light BDSM, Spanking, There is no smut
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-30
Updated: 2020-12-30
Packaged: 2021-03-10 18:41:11
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,623
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28421868
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mandersmc/pseuds/Mandersmc
Summary: When Henry overhears what sounds like his Ma, abusing his Mom, a very uncomfortable conversation is needed to explain all is not what it seems.Or the one where Regina didn't put up the silencing spell and Henry overheard Emma spanking Regina and got the very wrong idea.
Relationships: Evil Queen | Regina Mills/Emma Swan
Comments: 10
Kudos: 186





	For Want of Silence

**Author's Note:**

> I pinky promise there is no domestic violence. Just a little BDSM play as heard by poor poor Henry. I've had this kicking around in my brain all day and thought I would share.

"You've been a naughty little slut, haven't you?" Henry paused outside the door to his parent's bedroom, concerned by the statement growled out angrily by his Ma. When the slapping noise reached his ears, followed by his Mom's pained cry, he immediately reached for the door. He froze when he heard his Ma's angry booming voice shout for his mother to stop squirming and that she deserved this. The venom in her voice caused Henry to freeze in place. 

He stood staring at the door, willing himself to force his way in, but as the slaps rang out along with the pained cries of his Mom and the cruel words of his Ma, he couldn't do it. 

Henry ran back to his room and dove into his bed, burying his tear-stained face in his pillow as he sobbed. He sobbed for his Mom, he sobbed for what his Ma was unknowingly capable of, and he sobbed for being too afraid to stop it. By the time the teen was calm enough, Henry couldn't hear anything further from across the hall. He stared at his ceiling until it lightened with the rising sun, but he couldn't find sleep. 

***

Emma knocked on Henry's door. "Hey kid, time to get up. We're going to Granny's for breakfast." 

From through the door, she heard a belligerent, "I'm not hungry." 

Emma stared at the door for a moment, not understanding the attitude. "Hen, you ok?"

"Go away, Emma!" was shouted through the door, causing Emma to reel back in shock. It had been at least three years since Henry had called her anything but Ma. 

She felt Regina place a calming hand on her lower back and leaned into it. "Why don't you go down and cool off and let me figure out what is going on?" Was murmured low in her ear. 

Emma didn't want to walk away, but between being hurt and angry, she decided to let Regina handle it and made her way down into the living room. 

Regina knocked tentatively on Henry's door before calling out, "Henry, it's Mom. Can I come in?" A barely-there affirmative was heard through the wood, and the brunette slowly entered the dark bedroom to find Henry curled in the fetal position with his back to the door. 

Regina settled on the edge of the bed. She draped her arm over the teenager when he suddenly flipped over and buried his face in her stomach, sobbing. Regina pulled him to her, rocking him and murmuring nonsense into his ear. Eventually, he calmed enough to lay back down, and Regina laid next to him and pulled him into her arms with his head over her heart. "Just breath, my prince," the brunette whispered into his hair as his hiccupping breaths puffed onto her neck.

Regina rubbed Henry's back to help him calm, intensely concerned with what was going on with her son. "A-are you o-okay?"

Regina couldn't hide the shock on her face at the stuttering question directed at her. "My darling, of course, I'm ok. I'm just worried about you. What has you so worked up?"

Henry just shook his head and buried his face into his mother's chest. Tears leaking out even more. Regina continued to lay with him until he fell asleep. Once she was sure he was out, she eased herself out from under him and tiptoed out of the room, hoping to go find Emma.

***

Emma looked up as Regina made her way into the living room and plopped down beside her with a troubled look on her face. "What happened?" Emma whispered, almost afraid to know what had angered her son so much.

Regina looked into Emma's face, feeling helpless about what to do at this moment. "I don't know. He cried. A lot. Asked me if I was alright, then cried again until he passed out. Something is very wrong, but I don't know what." 

Emma wrapped an arm around Regina and kissed the side of her head before murmuring, "We'll figure this out."

They sat in that position, each lost in their own heads for several hours, just trying to determine where their happy 15-year-old from last night went. What on earth could have gone so wrong?

***

Henry woke and rolled over onto his back. The night before and the morning with his Mom came rushing back to him. He sat bolt upright in bed before launching out of his room and racing down the stairs. 

He spied his mothers sitting together on the couch and ran into the living room, shouting, "you don't touch my mom." Startled, Emma jumped from the sofa, but before she could say a word, she was dodging her son's fist as it headed straight for her face.

Regina, knowing this may go somewhere they couldn't come back from, jumped to her feet and wrapped her arms around Henry, glaring at the fists Emma had raised. She knew Emma was trying to defend herself, but this was not the place or time.

Henry squirmed out of Regina's hold but didn't attempt to attack Emma again. Instead, he pushed Regina behind him, standing between his two mothers. He glared at Emma, who had lowered her fists, entirely confused by what was happening. "You do not ever touch my Mom again. I want you to leave and never come back," he growled as deeply as his cracking voice would allow. All the adrenaline that had coursed through his veins upon waking was starting to leave him a shaking mess.

The blonde and brunette just looked at their son, shell shocked. Regina recovered first, pulling the boy away from his Ma and turning him to face her. "Henry, you have to tell me what is going on right now." Regina could feel the tears in her eyes, confused and scared by her son's very out of character actions.

"I heard it, Mom," Henry said as tears started falling down his face again.

Emma made to take a step towards them, but an imperceptible head shake from Regina left her frozen in place. "What did you hear, my Prince?"

Henry fell into her arms as his tears picked up steam, but she heard the shaky whisper, "I heard her hitting you last night."

Regina pulled her son even closer, her eyes blown wide, looking straight at Emma. She was at a loss. The brunette didn't know how to explain what her son heard. It was clear from the look on Emma's face, she had not heard what Henry had said. Regina felt helpless at that moment. She didn't know what to do.

Regina pulled back from Henry and put her hands on his cheeks, forcing him to look at her. "Henry, I know what you heard may have scared you, but I promise you, it was not what you think. I need you to come sit down with us so we can explain." Regina searched his face, hoping she would be able to get through to him. She didn't know what part he heard precisely, but if it was what she assumed it was, this wasn't good.

And the only explanation was that her silencing spell hadn't worked.

***

It took several more minutes and a promise from Emma to sit in a chair on the other side of the room, but Henry finally reluctantly agreed to sit down and talk. As Henry sat next to his Mom, almost in her lap, Emma was shooting her a look that begged to know what had happened. 

Regina cleared her throat and decided just to rip the band-aid off. "My silencing spell didn't work. Henry heard us last night."

Emma's eyes bugged out, and her face went pale, then just before her hands came up to cover her face, it went beat red. A muffled, "what part?" came out through the hands over her face.

Regina turned to Henry, who was glaring daggers at Emma. "Henry, can you tell me exactly what you heard?"

It was Henry's turn to go beat red. He ducked his head, but his voice was loud enough for both of his mothers to hear just how bad the situation was.

"I heard her call you a bad name." He glanced up at Emma, then over to Regina, then down into his lap before going red again. "A-a slut," he finally whispered. The brunette mouthed the word for her wife, who didn't hear the final whisper. "Then I heard her hit you, and I heard you yell in pain. I was gonna come in and stop her, I promise," Henry said, looking into his Mom's eyes, tears tracking down his face.

"It's ok, Henry, keep going," Regina encouraged.

Henry stared back down at his lap. "I was gonna come in, but I heard Emma yell at you and start hitting you again, and I got scared, and I ran back to my room. She was calling you a b-bitch and a-a slut, and you were hurt, and I couldn't protect you." Henry broke down into tears as Regina gathered him into her arms.

Regina looked to Emma, who looked just as lost as she was. Neither knew how to explain an immensely grown-up, very personal part of their lives to their son. Regardless of his age, he would not thank them for learning about this.

Regina looked back at Henry and took a deep breath. She had to do something, even if that meant opening up a part of herself, a son should never know about his mother—either of his mothers.

"Henry, do you know what it means to consent?"

He looked at the brunette through his tears, clearly confused about where the question was coming from. Of course, he knew what consent was. He had had the sex talk, far too much of the sex talk, from both his mothers.

Regina forged ahead, knowing she wasn't going to get an answer out of the confused teen. "What you heard last night, between your Ma and I, it was consensual."

Henry backed away from her, staring into his mother's quickly reddening face. "You…you wanted her to do that?"

Regina only nodded, trying to give her son the time he needed to process way too much information about his mothers. He rested his elbows on his knees, dropped his head into his hands, and just stared at the floor. Regina could see Emma wanted to say something, but she begged her wife to just be silent with her eyes. This was not the time for Emma to become involved.

"Why? Why would you want that?" Henry was starting to get angry again, swinging his head towards his blond mother. "And even if she did, why would you want to do that? Why would you want to abuse your wife? I thought you loved her?" Halfway between anger and tears, he was ready to launch himself at his Ma again, but Regina grabbed him and pulled him towards her.

"Henry." One word said sternly enough to stop him in his tracks. He slumped back on the couch and out of her arms. "This is one of those things you don't get to know." Henry opened his mouth, but Regina raised a hand, stopping him. "There are a great many things about your Ma and me, you don't know. You will never know. There are many things a son should never know about his parents, and this is one of them. Once you are an adult and out of the house, this is a subject which your Ma and I may never know about you. Though you are always free to talk to us about it. The parent-child relationship is not equal. It cannot be equal. What you are asking is extremely private. The whys of what you heard, we will not answer. All you need to know is it is consensual, and your mother and I are not abusing each other. This, I promise you."

Henry was having a tough time wrapping his head around what he heard. "So, she just hits you and calls you names sometimes when you want her to?"

Regina turned bright red again and turned away. She wouldn't tell him why, but could she tell him this?

Emma finally had enough of being sidelined and decided it was her turn to take a stab at it. She stood and came to sit in front of him on the coffee table. If he took a swing, she would handle it, but he needed to see her honesty. "Hen, it's bigger than that. I know from what you heard last night, it doesn't seem like it, but it is. There are a great many things we do for each other in the bedroom. Like Mom said, I'm not gonna give you reasons, but what we do sometimes includes what you heard, and sometimes not. It depends on what we need from each other."

Henry didn't move, didn't try to harm Emma again, but it was clear he was still perplexed regarding how he felt about Emma. Henry sighed and looked up at Emma, "I know you won't tell me why, but I just can't be ok knowing you hit my Mom. I wouldn't be ok if it was the other way around." Henry dropped his head, but then it shot back up, "does she?"

Regina took in a deep breath to calm herself before affirming, "I do." Another deep breath in. "Would it help you to know there are never any marks or bruises left? That we over-exaggerate our pain?"

"Is that another thing I can't ask why about?"

Regina smiled, it looked somewhat pained, but she tried to push through anyway, "the point isn't to hurt and abuse. The point is to correct bad behavior."

Henry blushed. In a rush of understanding, he remembered an article he had read with Nick in one of the naughty magazines Nick had stolen from his dad. He had done a little research on his own later, curious about what he read. "Is this BDSM?"

When nothing was forthcoming from his brunette mother, who was slowly getting redder, he turned towards his blonde mother, who wasn't faring much better. Emma nodded through her embarrassment. 

"OH GROSS!" Henry shot up from the couch and moved away from his mothers. "I was hearing you guys have kinky sex last night? Oh man, I was so scared, and it's because you two are just kinky?" Henry was pacing now. Emma had moved onto the couch to sit next to Regina as they tried to silently communicate how to best handle Henry knowing this. 

"I'm scarred for life, you know that, don't you? I'm never going to be able to unhear this. Oh man, I don't want to know this. Can you make me forget?" He turned towards his mothers then. Regina shook her head no, and the pacing resumed. "I'm gonna need therapy for life now." He stopped and pointed at his two mothers, "and you two are paying for it."

He was back to pacing, obviously talking to himself. "I wonder if Archie knows hypnosis, or maybe I'll go outside of Storybrooke and find someone. They can drive me, this is their fault. How am I supposed to function with this knowledge?"

The two women just slumped back on the couch after one of the most emotionally taxing mornings in recent memory. Regina made a mental note to make a very uncomfortable call to Archie Hopper to get Henry in as quickly as possible. She would be more than happy to pay all the therapy bills in the world if it got whatever sounds were bouncing around in her son's head out.


End file.
